| 14 | 11 |
| Klöckner Stadium | Charlottesville, Va. | |
| STATISTICS | ||||
| F | |||
| JHU | 6 | 5 | 11 | |
| PSU | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| SHOTS | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FJHU1511- -->23PSU1611- -->25
| SAVES | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FJHU53- -->8PSU74- -->11
| GBs | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FJHU66- -->12PSU65- -->11
| DRAWS | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FJHU75- -->12PSU68- -->14
May 8, 2015
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va -- A pair of four-goal games by Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) and Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) led No. 7 Penn State women's lacrosse past No. 17 Johns Hopkins, 14-11, on Friday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium in the NCAA First Round.
"I think the momentum started to pick up in the second half," Mosketti said. "We had a slow start to the first half, but once we started getting the draw and things started going our way. I just had to put my shots away.
"It was a bummer to lose last year in the first round (in Charlottesville), but it's so exciting to be playing the winner of (Virginia-Winthrop). It's really cool and our team is really excited to be playing."
Penn State, making its 21st NCAA Tournament appearance, moves on to play No. 7 seed Virginia. That NCAA Second Round game will take place on Sunday at 4 p.m. inside Klöckner Stadium. The Nittany Lions and Cavs meet for a second time following a thrilling last-second 16-15 UVa win on Feb. 28 at Holuba Hall.
Junior goalie Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) backstopped the Nittany Lions (15-5) with 11 saves, while her offense was just the second to drop 14-plus goals on Hopkins (14-4) this season, doubling JHU's goals against season average (7.06 goals allowed per game).
Mosketti's impressive afternoon was highlighted by a season-high nine draw controls and four ground balls and a caused turnover. She was joined by Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.), who had a pair of goals and an assist for a three-point day along with two draw controls.
Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) tallied two goals, while Kristin Brent (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) tied her season-high with two points on a goal and an assist. Ally Heavens (Garnet Valley, Pa.) chipped in with a free-position goal and Big Ten Tournament MVP Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) had a two caused turnovers by drawing charges.
The Nittany Lions and Blue Jays were deadlocked at 6 late in the first half as Coffey made a big defensive stop, forcing a Hopkins turnover with 29 seconds remaining. Eventually, the ball found its way back to Coffey's stick as the senior deposited her fourth goal of the half in the back of the net with only three seconds for a 7-6 lead, which PSU would never relinquish.
That goal started a 7-2 run that would open a five-goal margin with 20:12 remaining in the game as the Nittany Lions led 13-8. Mosketti opened the second half scoring with her second of the game off a feed from Jess Loizeaux (Mullica Hill, N.J.) for an 8-6 advantage three minutes into the frame.
Mosketti would win the ensuing draw and Madison Cyr scored 37 seconds later on a Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) feed from the right wing for a 9-6 lead, forcing Hopkins to lift senior netminder KC Emerson who stopped just five shots in 33:37 of action, giving way to Caroline Federico.
Federico made two quick saves during a prolonged PSU possession before a wild 1:48 would provide PSU the insurance it needed for the win.
Hopkins' Kelly Kenul scored her first of two goals to briefly cut the deficit to 9-7 with 22 minutes to go. Mosketti again won the draw and raced down the field to score 12 seconds later to restore the three-goal margin. JHU would never get closer.
Brent bagged her first free-position goal of the year 18 seconds later for an 11-7 lead before JHU's Shannon Fitzgerald's unassisted goal only 19 seconds later made the score 11-8 with 21:11 to go.
Twelve seconds after Fitzgerald's goal, Mosketti scored off her own draw win to cap her four-goal afternoon and give Penn State a 12-8 advantage. Heavens put the final touch on the deciding 7-2 run with a free-position goal with 20:12 left.
Hopkins would fire back with back-to-back goals at 16:05 and 14:35, but solid ball movement on the offensive end and great goaltending by Smith on the defensive end held Hopkins off. Smith had stops on two Blue Jay free-position chances that halted the momentum.
O'Donnell scored with 4:25 remaining for a 14-10 lead and JHU's Alexis Malfucci tallied with 3:43 to go for the final 14-11 score line.
In the opening half the Lions took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Coffey and Mosketti with 28:46 remaining. Mosketti's goal was only 13 seconds after Coffey's, the first of her three run-and-gun goals from the draw.
Hopkins answered with back-to-back goals scored 10 seconds apart to even the score at two, while a quick 3-0 spurt from Coffey, O'Donnell and Cyr upped Penn State's advantage to three, 5-2 with 10:47 to go. Smith saves five shots in the opening 13 minutes to help the Lions' cause.
The Blue Jays responded in kind by scoring four of the next five goals to even the score at six with 2:17 remaining, leading to Coffey's last-second goal. For Coffey it was her second straight four-goal game and her seventh game with three or more goals.
The Nittany Lions has scored 10 or more goals in every game this season, continuing to be one of just two teams in NCAA Division I women's lacrosse to do so (Maryland is the other). Like the Terrapins, PSU scored at least 14 goals against the Blue Jays, who were the seventh-ranked scoring defense entering the game.
GAME NOTES
• With today's victory, Penn State secured its first 15-win season since 1999. PSU has won 39 games in a 3-year stretch for the first time since 1989-91 when the Lions won 46 games.
• Coffey became PSU's first 40-goal scorer of the season. PSU has four 30+ goal scorers (Coffey, Steph Lazo, Cyr, Mosketti).
• Penn State improved to 12-5 all-time against Johns Hopkins. All meetings have been since 2002. The three-goal margin of victory was the largest for the Lions since April 21, 2012 (12-9 at PSU).
• The Nittany Lions improved to 14-0 when leading at halftime. Penn State also defeated its seventh ranked foe this year, improving to 7-4.
• Friday's game was PSU's first played on grass this season.
• Penn State & Virginia will meet for the fourth time in NCAA Tourney history. Last time was May 9, 1992 in Charlottesville. UVa leads 2-1 in NCAA games.